Oecanthus pellucens entering the Netherlands at Lobith (Orthoptera: Gryllidae)On august 8, 2004 a male Oecanthus pellucens was heard along the river Waal, just east of thecity of Nijmegen (the Netherlands). Additional searches revealed that the species is distributedfrom the German border towards Nijmegen and Arnhem along the rivers Waal and Rhinerespectively. These observations confirm that O. pellucens has successfully colonised theNetherlands in a natural way and has probably been present for several years. Previous recordsof O. pellucens in the Netherlands were attributed to transport by traffic from southern Europe.All specimens were found along the shore of the river, indicating that dispersal is accomplishedby water transport during winter and spring flooding. During this period the eggs of the speciesare in diapause inside plants. Since O. pellucens is very thermophilous it remains to be seen if itcan survive the next cold and wet summer.